Philipp Pilhofer (Humboldt Universität Berlin) gives a talk on the sanctuary of Saint Thekla at Ayatekla, near Seleucia (today Silifke, Turkey)

‘A very pleasant spot to walk and spend time’ – Thecla’s cave at Seleucia

14 October 2021

Philipp Pilhofer, an internationally recognized authority on the epigraphy of Isauria and Cilicia (both parts of the Diocese of Oriens, and, for our project, a curious case of areas where Syriac epigraphy did not hold ground) came to Warsaw to deliver an ‘in person’ (!) talk, first since 2019, at our Late Antique Seminar convened by Ewa Wipszycka and Robert Wiśniewski.

Philipp gave an overview of the topography of the shrine of Thekla at Seleucia, a model pilgrim sanctuary of Late Antiquity, which helped us a lot to learn more about patterns of the organization of the sacred space in Eastern Christian shrines. For our project, this was a crucial milestone for further research on the interplay between multilingual epigraphy and space in holy places. Philipp convincingly emphasized that any such study needs to include a detailed overview of the terrain and temporal layers in the shrine, since these can dramatically change even in a relatively short period.

Image: Cave of Thecla at Seleucia/Silifke. © Philipp Pilhofer.